In SNS documentation I can see some information about delivery policies and receive rate in particular:
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/sns/latest/dg/DeliveryPolicies.html#delivery-policy-maximum-receive-rate
But is this configuration applicable only for HTTP endpoints or Lambda functions as well?
Is it somehow possible to control lambda concurrent execution with SNS?
As @mark-b pointed in the comments, this feature just got announced during AWS ReInvent 2017
Set Concurrency Limits on Individual AWS Lambda Functions: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2017/11/set-concurrency-limits-on-individual-aws-lambda-functions/
To set the limit, navigate to your Lambda function in the Console
Scroll down, and at the very end you can set the limit.
As noted in comments, this does not appear to be implemented, currently, but there does appear to be a reasonably straightforward workaround:
SNS → API Gateway (an HTTPS endpoint) → Lambda
Arguably it's an unnecessary additional complexity and expense, but if you want a native solution with no external wizardry required, this might be the way to go.
You'd also have to handle validation of the SNS message signature, as well as the subscription confirmation, which a direct Lambda integration doesn't require... but this seems like a way to accomplish what you're looking for. Note that your optimal configuration here would be a regional endpoint for API Gateway, rather than an edge-optimized endpoint.
